St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge is a wintering ground for migratory birds in Florida. Established in 1931, it encompasses more than spread between Wakulla, Jefferson, and Taylor Counties in the state of Florida.
The refuge includes several Gulf of Mexico coastal habitats, such as saltwater marshes, islands, tidal creeks, and the estuaries of several north Florida rivers. It is home to a diverse range of plants, animal life and structures such as the St. Marks Lighthouse.
The refuge is inhabited by black bears, bobcats, otters, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, amphibians, alligators, snakes, freshwater and saltwater fish, as well as many different species of birds, including wading birds, waterfowl, and raptors.
The St. Marks Refuge Association's friends' group and the photography club supply the majority of volunteers for the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
From 2009-2016, St. Marks NWR served as a winter home for young, endangered whooping cranes. These captive-hatched cranes were taught to follow an ultra light aircraft piloted by costumed Operation Migration pilots on a journey of more than from central Wisconsin to Florida. The refuge is also a stopping point for the yearly monarch butterfly migration. The festival is hosted annually to educate people on the practice of tagging monarch butterflies as they continue through their migration.
Wilderness Designated in 1975 by the U.S. Congress as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, the St. Marks Wilderness makes up 17,350 acres of the refuge. The Florida National Scenic Trail traverses the refuge for , including a portion of the wilderness area.St. Marks Wilderness - Wilderness Connect
Access Public access points to the refuge are located at:St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge General Information brochure, April 2023 Panacea Unit Otter Lake, in Panacea Bottoms Road, in Panacea Skipper Bay Road, south of Medart Purify Bay Road, in Medart Wakulla Unit Shell Point Highway, north of Shell Point Wakulla Beach Road, east of Shell Point Newport Unit and St. Marks Unit Lighthouse Road, the main entrance, in Newport Aucilla Unit Mandalay Bay Road, just east of the Aucilla River in Taylor County.
There is no paved public access to the refuge in Jefferson County.
In popular culture The St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge and the St. Marks Light lighthouse are the settings of Jeff VanderMeer's 2014 horror novel Annihilation and the 2018 horror film of the same name based on the novel. Some exterior shooting was done of the national wildlife refuge and the lighthouse for the film, but ultimately the film was not shot there.
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St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge